Couple sentenced to probation in child abuse case

Thursday

Jan 24, 2013 at 11:46 AMJan 24, 2013 at 11:46 AM

By Matt Durr

matt.durr@hillsdale.netHILLSDALE — A couple convicted of conspiracy to commit child abuse earlier this month was sentenced Wednesday in Hillsdale District Court to two years' probation and fines totaling more than $500 each.Valentine and Sandra Skiba appeared before Judge Donald Sanderson, who cited problems with the victim's past as a reason why he felt jail time for the Skibas was not necessary. The charges carried a maximum sentence of one year in jail.The 14-year-old boy involved had run-ins with police and had run away from home numerous times prior to the incident last August.“I do not believe jail would be appropriate. You were stuck with a young boy who was not easy to raise,” Sanderson said at sentencing.The Skibas were each convicted of conspiracy to commit child abuse and Valentine was also convicted of fourth degree child abuse for an incident involving their son.The couple was on trial for allegedly locking the boy in his room and screwing the windows shut while they took the family’s other children to the Toledo Zoo. The boy testified that he was left with a box of pizza, a bag of chips and about a liter of water to sustain himself while the family was gone.When he inquired about using the restroom, Sandra told him he could use a five gallon bucket or his two-year-old sister’s potty training toilet. The boy was being punished for finishing his chores that morning according to his testimony.In an email sent to the Hillsdale Daily News Sandra Skiba said there was a different reason the boy was not allowed to go to the zoo.“(The victim) was not left home from a zoo trip because he did not get chores done. He was grounded because he held a knife to my back (reported to police) twisted my arms and pushed me against a door and made threats to push me down concrete stairs and kill me. My daughter watched him attack me and took pictures of the bruises he left on me,” Sandra said in the email.She also explained some of the boy’s past problems.“(The victim) was accused by his 7-year-old stepbrother of touching him inappropriately and by a 13-year-old friend of one of his stepsisters of her waking up and him touching her.”However, the boy was never formally charged with any criminal action.During the trial a Reading police officer testified that the boy had lied to him once during a separate incident earlier in 2012.Sanderson said he felt the deciding factor in the jury conviction was the testimony of the Child Protective Services investigator, Charnell Davis, who said that when she first met with Skibas during her initial investigation Sandra admitted to her that the boy was put in his room, but that they didn’t actually lock the door, they just made him believe he was locked in there.After handing down the sentence, Sanderson wished the family good luck.“Hopefully the future will be a lot better than the past,” he said.